Saori Takebe
Saori Takebe (武部 沙織, Takebe Saori) is the radio operator of the Anglerfish Team and one of the five main protagonists of Girls und Panzer. Profile Saori is a second year student from Ooarai Girls Academy. She serves as the radio and machine gun operator of the Anglerfish Team. Appearance Saori is a girl with long ginger colored hair and light brown eyes. In one episode it is revealed she wears contact lenses, and that she uses eyeglasses at home or doing chores. Together with Aya Oono, she is the only Ooarai character to wear black thigh highs, giving her a somewhat more stylish appearance. Personality Saori is known for her cheerful and bubbly personality and also as a good chatter. She is interested in seeking out good-looking men to be her boyfriend, and claims to be an expert in the art of love and romance, but it is later revealed that she has never actually dated anyone, despite her enthusiasm and charm. She coined Miho 's nickname "Miporin" and is popular among the first year students of the Rabbit Team, toward whom she acts like a big sister. While she is usually the first to end up complaining about a given situation and undergo a change of mood among her team, she's also notably good at diverting negative thinking. Especially in the first episodes, she notices quickly when Miho is feeling uneasy and accordingly changes the subject to prevent her from being confronted with bad memories (e.g. when Miho states she isn't very talented in Sensha-Dō compared to her sister and mother, when Ami Chōno asks Miho about her sister, or when Maho Nishizumi is interviewed in a TV show presented in the tank store). Generally, Saori seems to have a very good understanding of her comrades' emotions and is a trustful friend, often being the first to offer advice or support. Cooking and housekeeping are among her talents as well. Background Saori, together with Hana Isuzu, are the first classmates to talk and befriend Miho Nishizumi when she transferred to Ooarai Girls Academy. When the student council revealed that it would be reviving Ooarai's Sensha-Dō team, Saori did not hesitate to join because she believed that tankery would gain her popularity among men. When Miho was forced to join the Sensha-Dō team by the student council, Saori reconsiders and decides not to do Sensha-Dō for the sake of Miho, but eventually Miho reverses her decision. Thus, she joins Sensha-Dō together with Hana and Miho. During the training match against the other teams from the school's Sensha-Dō team, Saori chooses to be the tank commander, but is replaced by Miho after she gets scared in the heat of the battle and is seemingly unable to give proper orders. After the match, Saori is appointed by Miho to become the tank's radio operator, as she recognizes her ability to communicate. During the first match of the national Sensha-Dō tournament against Saunders University High School, Saori's talent of being very quick at writing SMS becomes useful for the team when Miho spots a radio intercepting balloon operated by Saunders' co-commander Alisa. Miho instructed Saori to use text messaging instead of their radio as communication method to exploit Saunders' radio intercepting. By using their cell phones for communication, Ooarai manages to lure two of Saunders' tanks into an ambush and disable one of them, using Saunders' radio interception against them. Saori is shown to be quite serious about her duty as radio operator. Before the national finals match against Kuromorimine Girls Academy during the ''Katsu ''dinner, she reveals that she has passed the examination for becoming an amateur radio operator 2nd class. In the Anzio OVA (which chronologically takes at the end of episode 7), it is revealed that she was already studying for this back then. Trivia *Her favorite flower is a Pink Rose and her favorite tank is the U.S. M26 Pershing. *Saori Takebe was the third character to receive an official voice pack mod for the online tank battle game World of Tanks, as part of developer Wargaming.net's Japanese promotional collaboration with Girls und Panzer. *Saori's birthday (given by Miho in Episode 1) is June 22nd. This date is very significant because 3 major events occurred on this day during World War II. The first was the French armistice in 1940, the start of Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union - in 1941, and Operation Bagration - the Soviet counteroffensive of Belorussia (Belarus) - in 1944. *In the Spin off manga, "Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu!" she is seen to be very aware of her body weight, and appears to be scared and anxious whenever she steps on the scale. *Still in the spin-off manga, "Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu", Rabbit Team members often refer to her as "Mama", so does Saori often consider Rabbit Team member as her children. *Still in the spin-off manga, "Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu", Saori depicted to have above average physical strength for a teenage female. She could hold Mako upside-down by her ankle without trouble, and catch 2 of Rabbit Team members who jumped frantically from the height of their tank due to cockroach invasion despite struggling a lot, however this could be explained through the small body size of the latters. **Should Yukari aware of this, she would've agreed when Saori offered herself as loader instead of making her as a commander in training when Miho absent. *In Episode 1, Saori initially chose Sensha-dō with Hana before changing into Incense Ceremony to support Miho. Both she and Hana finally converted back to Sensha-dō after Miho agreed to select Sensha-dō as her elective. *Whenever Mako wanted to quit Sensha-Dō due to her laziness and troubles waking up early in the morning, Saori is always the first one who tries to convince her to stay and often uses her granmother as the main subject. *Saori excels at cooking and house chores. *Saori is proven to be a terrible tank commander as proven during the training match before the match against St. Gloriana before Miho took the command, especially during the training for the upcoming match against Maginot, as Miho was unavailable because the Student Council summoned her, Saori assumed the position (against her will) of tank commander. On three training battles the Panzer IV was immobilized by the StuG, by the M3 and even by the Type 89 (!!!). *Saori is quite obsessed by the thought of having fans among boys. This dream of hers eventually came true, but not exactly according to her desire, as all those 'boys' were actually from old people's home, as seen during the victory parade in Chapter 12. *Her father is named Shinzo Takebe (武部磯三) and she has a sister named Shiori Takebe (武部詩織). Gallery Category:Characters Category:Anime Characters Category:Females Category:Polynymous Category:Anglerfish Team Category:Radio Operators Category:Ooarai Girls' High School Category:TemporaryCategory